A Puppy Commission!

Ruth, 14 x 11 inch oil on linen panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Yes, and not only a puppy commission, but a Rat Terrier puppy commission! This is Ruth, and she is four months old. What a face! This painting was so much fun, from her little name tag to her wee nose to the ornery look in her eye. I love it all.

Here are a few work in progress photos:

I hope you enjoyed this painting as much as I did! 

For more cute Rat Terrier art, there's a new painting of Cloud on my daily painting blog today:

http://katsdailypaintings.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-26.html

Much love,

Thank you! And more thoughts on the portrait of K

I am overwhelmed by the comments that were left on both my blog and KB's blog regarding K's portrait, Seize the Day. I appreciate each and every one of them, thank you all so much!

There were two comments posted on KB's blog post that I would like to share:

From houdstooth:

"...There are times when we all feel helpless as we watch someone we care about go through a difficult struggle. Being able to do "something" is the way a lot of people try to feel better about a situation they can't change. You and K have brought inspiration to so many people, I'm so glad that we could repay you in some small way for sharing her (and yourself) with all of us!"


Knowing that my art can be the "something" that makes people feel better and brings them together means the world to me. There is nothing more rewarding than that.


From TK and Squashies:

"KB,

This blog has always been a masterpiece. You have painted K's essence, with your amazing love, empathy, and prose.

How could we not know K's spirit?

To have the ability, the talent and the empathy to capture that spirit in a single image, is beyond my comprehension. But we I stand, spell-bound, in the presence of Kathleen's work.

When two great masters of perception come together- this is the result. I am humbled and honored to have been here to observe.

THANK YOU, to three great ladies for reminding me of what is important. And what is not."

This is exactly what happened. I had more than just a photo of a beautiful dog to work from. I had KB's entire blog to work from - I knew her hopes and fears, and K's moods and joy for life. I felt all of that weave itself effortlessly into the painting, and the video. It was a very humbling experience.

The blog community is just that - a community. And it's an honor to be a part of it.

Thank you everyone again for your kind comments. I wish I had time to visit each blog individually to thank you. 

Much love to you all,

Seize the Day

Seize the Day, 16 x 20 inch, oil on canvas

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

When I was commissioned for a surprise painting of K from the blog Romping and Rolling in the Rockies, I was truly honored. This inspiring blog is a favorite of mine for many reasons - the dogs, the scenery, the wildlife, and the heartfelt writing.

For those who don't know, K is a chocolate lab who reminds us about living in the moment and enjoying each day to the fullest, despite her frightening health concerns. (Animals are such great teachers!) The author of this beautifully written and fascinating blog shares her bittersweet journey with the world, and I appreciate her courage.

When I say it was an honor to paint K, I truly mean that. It was an honor to be thought of by the blog community to paint this gift, to know that I was chosen to create something with such meaning for her family. And I hope, along with all those involved with this surprise, that this painting will help to ease some of the pain and bring comfort to all who love K.

The painting shows K facing into the sunset, giving her fur a reddish glow that her human loves. The look on her face is pure K, and can be summed up by one phrase: Carpe Diem!!

I was inspired to make a pretty epic (for me) video of the process. I think the only thing missing is car chases and explosions. All kidding aside, I enjoy making these painting videos. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Be sure to have your speakers on!

Here's the direct link to the video: http://vimeo.com/40682331

Much love,

New project, a painting a day!

No posts since January doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I'll post some updates soon, but I wanted to let you know about a new project I've started - a painting a day for a year! WHY??? You can read about it on my new daily painting blog:

http://katsdailypaintings.blogspot.com/

I hope you'll follow along with me on the journey.

Much love,

New horse painting: Isis and Cerus

Isis and Cerus, 30 x 24" oil on canvas

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I had so much fun painting these two beautiful horses. This pair is a mother and son, and the painting was commissioned by a new collector as a gift to his wife. I was told she cried for five minutes after opening it. I love hearing stories like that, it means a great deal to know that my work makes people happy.

This painting is fairly large, so I've included a few close up shots to show the detail and texture:

And if you'd like to see how the painting came to be, I've made a time lapse video of the progress. I hope you enjoy it!

Much love,

A Winter Doe for the Holidays

Winter Doe, 12 x 9" oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Here she is framed:

Wishing everyone a beautiful holiday season, with love and blessings in abundance in 2012!



Much love,

New Still Life - Lego dude!!

Desk Patrol, 5 x 7" oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I love quirky still life paintings, and had so much fun painting this Star Wars Lego dude! Look for more toy paintings from me in the future.

If anyone is interested in owning this little guy, he comes framed and is available in my etsy shop.

It's been a busy month, with two shows and finishing my big horse commission. I used google's task timer to keep track of the time the horse painting took and logged about 60 hours! I can't wait to post photos of it after the holidays.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season!

Much love,

A couple of cows

Sassy, 8 x 8 inch oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I'm working on a large commissioned piece right now of two horses. Unfortunately, no photos until after Christmas. You never know who's going to see what you post, and I would hate to ruin the surprise for my client.

But I can show you a couple of cows I painted recently. I found this cow in Oklahoma on a very windy day. (Aren't they all windy in Oklahoma??) I loved the way the wind blew the hair on the top of her head straight up. It makes her look like she has an attitude.

And the next one is a different sort of cow. I painted a still life of the Fisher Price Cow. It brings up so many good memories for me; the Fisher Price Farm was one of my all time favorite toys as a kid.

This is actually one of my favorite paintings I've done to date.

Fisher Price Cow, 8 x 6 inch, oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Hope you enjoyed them. I see more cow paintings in my future, because they are so much fun to paint!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

Reentry

I'm not sure what happened to my blogging frequency compared to previous years. Somewhere along the way I had days where it felt more like work than fun and I needed a break. And of course, when you get out of the habit of something, the longer you wait, the harder it is to start back up.

Facebook may be another culprit... it's so quick and easy to post pics and updates there. Question: Is facebook is making blogging obsolete? People seem to want quick info these days, and it can be hard to find time to read (and write!) long blog posts.

But in the end, blogs and facebook are two different animals. There's a lot I miss about the blogging world, and feel it's time to reenter.

Due to my lack of posts this year, it may look like I haven't been up to much, but in truth I've been pretty busy with my art. One of the things I've been having fun painting is still life's. Here's a still life I painted of some of my husband's pottery. Shino is a type of glaze.

Shino, 10 x 8 oil on linen

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Here's another I painted at a friend's house. She made bronze castings of her face and turned them into art pieces around her home. I thought they were so cool!

Still Life with Cast Bronze, 8 x 8" oil on panel

© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I'm finding that still life paintings are a great exercise to really learn to see colors and form, and is a lot different than working from photos. I'm painting a couple small still life's a week as a way to keep improving my work. We'll see where it takes me.

Cloud is doing great. I can't believe he's 10 years old now. Here's a photo from this morning.

Brahman Bull Painting

Beyond Measure
30 x 30 inch, oil on canvas
© 2011 Kathleen Coy

My largest studio painting to date. I got some good photos of this bull standing in a field when I was in Oklahoma earlier this year. I was in complete awe of not only his massive size and strength, but also of the equal measure of dignity that went along with it. This painting represents more to me than just a painting of a beautiful animal. I titled it, Beyond Measure, after the opening line from Marianne Williamson's Our Deepest Fear:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

I love the way animals never question their own existence the way humans do, and I love the way they're always true to themselves. I love the way animals exemplify qualities I admire, such as courage, strength, and living in the now. As this bull looked over the fence at me, he seemed to be saying, "I am worthy simply because I am here, on this Earth, in this moment. And so are you..."

If you're interested in watching this painting come together, I put together a video of the process. I hope you enjoy it!



In other news, I'm having an opening reception tomorrow, Saturday the 13th, from 1 - 5 pm at the Corning Fine Arts Center. If you're anywhere in the area, I hope you can stop by! http://www.corningfinearts.com/

Some new work

I started a large (30 x 30") painting of a Brahma (or Brahman) bull, but took some time out to paint this black bear - I wanted to experiment with some thicker, looser paint applications before I tried them on the big bull, and thought this small (10 x 8") would be good practice. I'm happy to say this painting has already sold.

Shoreline
10 x 8 inch, oil on linen
© 2011 Kathleen Coy

Small works

I enjoyed painting some little 6 x 6 inch still life panels on Ampersand cradled gessoboard recently. I started with a whole orange, and the next day painted it partially peeled:

and the next day just a slice:

I can imagine how fun these would look displayed together in a kitchen or dining room.

Peeled Triptych 6 x 18" oil on panel
© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I painted an avocado the next day:

Avocado 6 x 6" oil on panel
© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I really enjoyed getting back to the basics with these paintings and look forward to doing more. There's so much beauty to be found in everyday objects, it's fun to be reminded once in a while.

New Painting, Grand Canyon Mules

South Rim Express, 16 x 20 inch oil on panel
© 2011 Kathleen Coy

I wish there was a great story behind this painting. I really do. Something that involves adventure, excitement, and trusting my life to a surefooted mule on a winding, dizzying, death-defying canyon trail. Traveling to paint on location at a remote site only accessible by said trusty, surefooted mules. Wouldn't that be great?

The real story behind this painting is far less adventurous:

Friend: Hey Kat, I went to the Grand Canyon and you know those mules that you can ride down to the bottom?

Me: Yes.

Friend: We didn't get to ride them down. They're booked up a year in advance. But I took a good photo of some of the mules in the corrals. Do you want to paint it?

Me, after seen the photo: YES!!

Still Life with Antler and Red Pitcher

Still Life with Antler and Red Pitcher
18 x 14 inches, Oil on board. © 2011 Kathleen Coy

This is the first still life I've painted in a very, very long time. In all of my animal paintings, I work from photos out of necessity. Over the last year, I've become more interested in painting from life. I enjoyed painting this still life so much, that it will NOT be a very, very long time before I paint another one.

This painting is being displayed at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, during the month of March as part of the Nebraska Women's Caucus for Art's group show.

Here is a photo of the set up. My mother found the antler during a walk in the woods last year. I'm sure most of you know that male deer lose their antlers every winter and regrow them in the late spring and summer. The sagebrush in the vase is from Montana, and was given to me by a friend. The antler and the sage lend enough of a "nature" feeling, that even though this is far from my usual subject matter, this painting feels like me.

My favorite painting of Cloud yet!

Turning on the Charm
18 x 14 inch oil on board. © 2011 Kathleen Coy

I couldn't resist painting this pose of my Rat Terrier, Cloud. He has the most expressive face I've ever seen. This is the sixth painting I've done of him (he is my little muse), and it is my favorite one to date.

Here are a few work in progress photos. In this one, I've laid down some background color and started painting his face.


Now I'm blocking in the main colors, trying not to get too detailed, but paying attention to the way the light falls on his fur. Oh those ears, how I love them!


Most of his face is blocked in now. The next step is to go back and refine everything.


And the finished painting. Not much in the way of a background because I wanted all the focus to be on Cloud. His head and neck have a nice solid sense of form to them, more so than some of my older pieces I think.

I hope you've enjoyed the painting and this series of photos.

Much love,

Wordless Wednesday - Still Life